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Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White dead at 74 Maurice White, founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, dies at 74
(about 2 hours later)
NEW YORK — Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White, whose horn-driven band sold more than 90 million albums and made hits like “September,” ‘’Shining Star” and “Boogie Wonderland,” died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, his brother Verdine said. Maurice White, a percussionist and singer who founded and led Earth, Wind & Fire, a crackling mainstay of 1970s dance music that leaned heavily on funk, soul and R&B, died Feb. 3 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 74.
White, who was 74, suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and had retreated from the public even as the band he founded kept performing. The cause was complications from Parkinson’s disease, his brother and band bassist Verdine White told the Associated Press.
“My brother, hero and best friend Maurice White passed away peacefully last night in his sleep,” Verdine White, also a member of the band, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “While the world has lost another great musician and legend, our family asks that our privacy is respected as we start what will be a very difficult and life changing transition in our lives. Thank you for your prayers and well wishes.” Earth, Wind & Fire was a major crossover act known for such hits as “Shining Star,” “September,” “Boogie Wonderland,” the conga-driven dance groove “Serpentine Fire,” “After the Love Has Gone,” “Sing a Song” and a cover of the Beatles’ “Got to Get You into My Life” — songs defined by a rollicking beat, jangly electric bass lines, bracing trumpet breaks and soulful vocal choruses. They reflected Mr. White’s roots in Memphis, that seminal Mississippi River crossroads for rock, blues and jazz.
Earth, Wind & Fire, a nine-piece band centered featuring the two White brothers, singer Philip Bailey and the distinctive horn section, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. The band’s most successful period started with the 1975 album “That’s The Way of The World” and continued through the rest of the decade. Other hits included “Serpentine Fire,” ‘’That’s the Way of the World” and a cover of the Beatles’ ”Got to Get You Into My Life.” Earth, Wind & Fire, named for three elements of Mr. White’s astrological sign (Sagittarius), was known for its elaborate stage shows filled with wild lighting and pyrotechnics, arrangements that combined the African percussion instrument kalimba (thumb piano), and lengthy, jazz-influenced brass solos. The group was also distinguished by its vocal harmonies and interplay between Mr. White, a tenor, and Philip Bailey, who sang in falsetto.
White publicly revealed he had Parkinson’s at the time of the band’s Hall of Fame induction, but he had shown symptoms of the neurological disease back in the 1980s. He stopped touring with the band in 1995 because of weariness from the road combined with his health problems. Mr. White saw the musical almost totally in the service of creating good vibes and spiritual brotherhood — bridging the gap between black and white musical tastes while incorporating uplifting messages of black pride and African consciousness. The title cut of their album “Open Our Eyes” was a rearrangement of an inspirational song earlier recorded by the Gospel Clefs in 1958.
White said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2000 that he wanted the band’s music to inspire instead of just entertain. “We live in a negative society,” he once told Newsweek. “Most people can’t see beauty and love. I see our music as medicine.”
“That was the whole objective, to try to inspire young people to believe in themselves and to follow through on their ideas,” he said. “We’ve touched so many people with these songs.” Earth, Wind & Fire, which sold tens of millions of records, won six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. His music was continually revived for films — from the spy farce “Austin Powers in Goldmember” (2002) to “Summer of Sam” (1999) — when a song was needed to instantly evoke an era.
A former session drummer, White founded the band Salty Peppers in the Chicago area in the late 1960s and had some modest success in the Midwest. After relocating to Los Angeles and ditching all of the band members except Verdine, he renamed the outfit Earth, Wind & Fire after the three elements in his astrological chart. Maurice White was born in Chicago on Dec. 19, 1941, and he grew up in Memphis in a family that included nine other siblings. His father was a doctor, but he boasted of musical forebears, including a grandfather who was a New Orleans honky-tonk piano player.
Bailey’s bright falsetto defined many of Earth, Wind & Fire’s hits. “We experienced pure magic together,” Bailey said during the band’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, standing next to White. At 6, Mr. White began singing in the church gospel choir but soon gravitated to drums and played an early professional date with organist Booker T. Jones, later known as the leader of the soul instrumental group Booker T and the MGs.
The band’s early sound was jazzy, but evolved into an exuberant, horn-driven mix of jazz, funk, gospel and Big Band music. Their appeal wasn’t just on records but on stage, their concerts a whirl of dancing, fog machines, multi-colored lights and glittery costumes. Earth, Wind & Fire performed everywhere from the Super Bowl to the White House. After high school, he attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music and then worked at Chicago-based Chess records as a session drummer accompanying Billy Stewart (on “Summertime”) and Fontella Bass (“Rescue Me”), among others.
Maurice White also had a substantial side career producing other artists, including Barbra Streisand and Cher. In the 1970s, he co-wrote and co-produced the Emotions’ No. 1 hit “Best of My Love.” During a brief tenure in the late 1960s with pianist Ramsey Lewis’s trio, Mr. White discovered the kalimba, which became a trademark part of the band’s sound. Touring at universities and club dates with Lewis sparked an awakening about changing tastes among young recordbuyers.
White was born in Memphis in 1941, the son of a doctor and grandson of a New Orleans piano player. He showed musical gifts at an early age, studying at the Chicago Conservancy. During the 1960s, he backed Muddy Waters, the Impressions and others and worked as a session drummer in Chicago. “Being on the road with Ramsey and playing colleges for kids my own age, I saw there was a need for a different type of music — a type of music that was a little more inspirational for my age group,” Mr. White told the St. Petersburg Times.
The band performed in the movie, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and had hits with the ballad “After the Love Has Gone,” ‘’All ‘n’ All,” ‘’Let’s Groove” and “Fall in Love With Me.” The band took a four-year hiatus in the 1980s and then returned, its primary success then on the road. In 1969, he decamped for Los Angeles and, with keyboardist-singers Wade Flemons and Don Whitehead, formed a group that evolved into Earth, Wind & Fire and were guided by Mr. White’s vision to defy musical categories and fuse jazz, rock and soul.
“We live in a negative society,” White told Newsweek at the height of the band’s success. “Most people can’t see beauty and love. I see our music as medicine.” They were featured on the film soundtrack to “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” (1971), director Melvin Van Peebles’s underground hit, and were featured performers in the “That’s the Way of the World” (1975), a drama about the corporate music world that featured their megahit “Shining Star.” At their height, the band included such notable instrumentalists as saxophonist Ronnie Laws and Mr. White’s brother Verdine.
____ By the early 1980s, Mr. White said he felt drained by nonstop performing and touring. He returned to studio work, producing and arranging for acts including Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, the Emotions, Deneice Williams, El DeBarge and Jennifer Holliday.
Entertainment writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report. He did not entirely give up recording his own music and had a top-10 R&B cover of the Ben E. King’s 1961 ballad “Stand by Me” in 1985 that was layered with electronic percussion. He also reunited his old band, sometimes singing but more often serving as composer, producer and guiding spirit.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. One reason had been his worsening health. Just before his induction into the hall of fame, he publicly disclosed his struggle with Parkinson’s. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.
“It’s important for me to communicate higher thought, higher spirit, higher ideas in my music as well as communicate emotionally,” he told the Chicago Tribune in 1985. “It’s important to put the emphasis on the positive aspect.”
“There are a lot of things wrong on this planet — starvation, poverty, negative thoughts, racism, a lot of weirdness,” he added. “So somebody has to communicate something to try and balance that, if it’s possible. . . . Spiritually, we don’t all have to walk the same path. I’m not speaking in terms of any denominational religion. I’m talking about a more universal thing. But people should make sure that whatever path they walk is a positive one to instill good things in yourself and others.”
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